Account-register or coin-counter



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

L. BENHAM.

ACCOUNT REGISTER OR COIN COUNTER. No. 857,881.- Patented 186881887.

ff/ l IWI N. PTERS PhumLialmgrJpher. wmhmglon. D. C.

(Nvo Model.) i 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. L. BENHAM.

EGGOUNT REGISTER 0R G01N COUNTER.

No. 357,361. Patented Peb. 8, 1887.

WITNESSES INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS, Pnmulnhogmphcr. washington u. C.

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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUTHER BENHAM, or MAEIANNA, AnKANsAs ACCOUNT-REGISTER OR COIN-COUNTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 357,361, dated February 8, 1887.

Application filed Marchi), 1886. Serial No.194,668. (Noinodeh) To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, LUTHER BENHAM, of Marianna, in the county of Lee and State of Arkansas, have invented a new and Improved Account-Register, of 'which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Ihe object of my invention is to provide an economical device adapted for use in the keeping of accounts between a store-keeper and his customer; and the invention consists of a case arranged to receive and hold two sets of checks, one set representing small amounts as, say, from ve to twenty-tive cents-while the other set represents checks of from two dollars and a half to iive dollars, the case being provided with an automatic indicating mechanism whereby the amount represented by the checks remaining in the case may be ascertained at a glance.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which the same letters of referenceindicate the same or corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a face view of my improved ac- ,countfregisten Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the case, the checks, however, being shown in full lines. Fig. 8 is a crosssectional view taken on line x x of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a view of a inodiiied construction. Fig. 5 is a view of another modified construction. Fig. 6 is a rear View of the construction illustrated in Fig. 5, the case being shown as opened; and Fig. 7 is a plan view of the same.

The case illustrated in the accompanying drawings consists, essentially, of a small cabinet, A, in which there are arranged two vertical compartments, B and G, each compartment being provided with an upper side openspiral spring, E, above which there is ablock,

F, carrying a pointer, d., Which projects through a slot, b, formed in the inner wall of thecompartment, and projecting inward behind a double graduated glass strip, G.

As best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the compartments B and C are not of the same size,

the idea being to provide against the mixing of the checks for small and large amounts, the.- checks for large amounts being preferably slightly larger than those for small amounts.

Although any desired size of cabinet may be used, I prefer for general use a cabinet arrangedto receive fifty dollars worth of checks, said size being very convenient. The thickness of the checks II varies in accordance with the amount which they represent-as, for in- 6o stance, the ten-cent checks are twice as thick as the five-cent checks,while the twenty-iive cent checks are five times as thick as the vecent checks.

In the form of cabinet illustrated in Figs. l

and 3, small checks to the amount of two dollars and a half are placed within the compartment C, the spring E, arranged in said compartment, being compressed, and fifty dollars worth of two-and-a-half or five dollar checks 7o are placed within the compartment B.

After the cabinet has been filled, the doors D are locked, a key being taken by both the merchant and the customer. As goods are bought, the checks representing the amount 'f5 of the purchase-money are removed from the case, the doors D being first opened, and after small checks to the amount of two dollars and a half have been taken out of compartment C the small-check compartment is re-'So lled and a check for two dollars and a half removed from the other compartment. As the checks are removed the pointers a are pressed upward, and will at all times indicate the exact amount represented by the checks against the tension of the springs,(not shown 9 5 in this figura) above which they are arranged, by a slide, I, arranged to be locked in place or moved from side to side, in order to permit the checks to be forced upward, as shown on the right ofthe gure under consideration,there beroo ing in this case a vertical slide, J, formed with a horizontal arm, K, beneath which the checks formed at the side ol' the compartment; and it will beunderstood that after cheeks to the required amount have been removed the said rslide is forced downward against the tension of the spring until beneath the level of the slide I, alter which the said slide I is moved over the top of K and locked in place.

In the construction illustrated in the first two 'figures of the drawings the checks are held down by blocks L, as clearly shown, the key-hole of the doorloek being shown at N.

In Figs. 5, (5, and 7 I illustrate a construction wherein the cheeks in the compartment C do not in the aggregate exceed the sum of one dollar, while the cheeks in the opposite compartment, B, are all for a dollar or for multiples ofa dollar, so that one ofthe pointers shown in Fig. 5, but not in Figs. 6 and 7 will always denote the number ot' dollars while the other will denote the number of 4cents removed from the cabinet. In this ease the cabinet is opened by a door, D, hinged atp p to the rear ofthe cabinet so as .to open downward,

as indicated in Fig. 6. Below the door D of the cabinet (shown in Fig. 6) there is a plate, R, that is embedded in the case and formed oi" any proper material, upon which orders, &e., may be written, and 'from which the orders may be readily erased.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The account-cabinet herein shown and described, comprising the compartments B C, spring pressed followerblocks F, having pointers proj eeting toward each other,a double graduated strip between said pointers and doors completely closing the upper ends of the compartments, and locking devices therefor, whereby the contents of the compartments cannot be removed until the doors are opened, substantially as set l'orth. 

